Some of you will get this in the mail, but here it is for the rest of you!
Dear friends and family, Dec 24, ’11
Merry Christmas and, by the time you all read this, Happy New Year! This year has been busy and GOOD. We are so thankful for the health we have had, and the ways God has provided.
Katelyn is now 20 months old. She loves dolls, coloring (or anything to do at the table!), and teasing her brother. She has mastered the art of grabbing his toy and taking off in record speeds. It has been so fun to see them play and interact more as she gets older. Katelyn still refuses to talk for the most part…although “Uh Uh” (her “no”) is common, and every once in a while you might hear an “Uh oh” slip out. We think she’s saving up to surprise us with full sentences one of these days. In the meantime, in order to relieve some frustration that comes with the lack of words, we have taught her some sign language. She loves it. In a month she learned “please”, “all done”, “more” (we didn’t even want her to learn that one-she picked it up at church!), “help”, “drink” and a few others. We see significantly fewer fits and tantrums because she feels like she has the ability to communicate! She has 2 speech therapists that she meets with and they are constantly amazed at her fine motor skills (she can put together puzzles, match colors, etc NO problem) and attention span (she’ll sit and play at the table for a couple hours at a time), and are not worried about her speech development at all.
Kaden (3 ½) is still our talker. He talks so much he runs out of things to say, and then he’ll ask me what else he should talk about. Often we will wake up to him standing by us asking if he can talk about breakfast. He loves food. He’s a growing boy and manages to put away amazing amounts of food. He also loves anything trains, and has somehow managed to amass quite the collection of wooden train tracks. One can no longer visit the Antonich’s without being introduced to his trains. This year Kaden got to join the AWANA Cubbies program, and just recently started attending Children’s church. He loves them! He also took 5 weeks of swimming lessons and passed his class on the first try! He loves to hang out under water! He also recently gave up napping. (Sad day!) In March, he had surgery to have his tonsils and adnoids removed. We are amazed at how it changed his voice…he no longer sounds like he’s talking around a golf ball! It has changed his life-as now he can breathe when he runs, sleep through the night, and hasn’t had antibiotics even ONCE since the surgery! We can’t believe we ever wondered if he need them taken out!
Luke has kept very busy at work with PCA this year. He just ended his “outside work” for the “summer” about 2 weeks ago, and is now back in the office already feeling behind on his designs for next summer! We are thankful for the work, but looking forward to vacation time this spring!!! Luke still sings in the choir at church, has led worship several times this year, and is on several committees. He just started league basketball this month and is enjoying that a lot. He had surgery this month to remove a mole on his nose (yes, surgery for that) and that was his contribution to our deductibles! (We are ready to be done with surgeries for a while!) His project for the house this year was to finish our dining room (it looks BEAUTIFUL!) and keep on top of the contractors who finally got our new siding put on! We love it! He also installed 4 new windows (all new windows now!) and we are hoping we are done with the major house repairs for a while! Maybe now he’ll have time to finish the garage that he has insulated/painted and needs to build work benches for!
Bethany keeps busy being mom, cook, wife, and referee (for the kids!). She is still working as a Pampered Chef consultant with 2 cooking clubs per month. She still directs the church nursery and in August, she added 2-3 five hour days a week of babysitting a baby girl who is now 6 months old. In September, she (reluctantly) agreed to co-coordinate the local MOPS group. It has been a challenge- to say the least- and a learning experience. Thankfully, the challenge has been fairly enjoyable – and she has learned a lot about her leadership style, as well as gained many new friends! This year she also (again, reluctantly) co-directed VBS at our church. This too was a challenge, and very rewarding…she is looking forward to doing it again this summer. She is trying to learn not to be so reluctant about these things! She also organizes a “monthly” (more like every 6 weeks) Craft Saturday at church where she enjoys working on Kaden and Kate’s scrapbooks and hanging out with friends while Luke cares for the kids.
In June, Bethany and the kids took a trip to Denver to celebrate Rachel Allen’s 30th birthday. It was a fun week filled with zoos, pools, trains, food, and more! Kaden still talks about it often! In July, we headed to Bethany’s parents house to help them paint their house, then Bethany and the kids got to visit with family friends in Butte for a few days. In October, more family friends- Bill and Nate Allen- visited again from Arkansas to hunt for a few days. We sure enjoy having them around (and think they need to move here). When we return home from Christmas vacation we look forward to having a college student- Allison- move in with us for the next 4 months while she student teaches in Gillette.
As we get ready to open presents tomorrow we have been frequently explaining to Kaden why it is that we get to have this holiday called Christmas. He has helped us see this Christmas story through the eyes of a child and we hope that you also can take the time to go back to the basics of Christmas! It truly is amazing that a great big God sent His Son to earth on Christmas day just because He loved us so much. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Love from the Antonich’s
Kaden Kwotes:
Kaden: What are we having for breakfast? Mom: Worms and alligator tongues!
Kaden: (the beginnings of a fit) I don't WANT that! I want YOGURT and alligator tongues!
• Kaden stopped dead in his tracks, looked around...then said "I just forgot myself.... MOM! what was I going to say?"
• Kaden: "I found a chocolate chip under the stove. ...sooooo I kinda ate it."
• "Mom, if some little Katelyn chewed on this and ruined it, I'd be sooooo sad." –Kaden (as if I don’t know which Katelyn he might be talking about…)
• Kaden- to Katelyn as she scratched his legs- "Katelyn no more scratching. STOP scratching" slight pause..."No scratching! I CAN SCRATCH MYSELF!"
• "Mom, when I get a little bit bigger, and that tree gets a little bit smaller, THEN I'm going to climb up it!" –Kaden
• "Good morning Mom! Time to get up?" ~ Kaden, 15 minutes after going to bed. (I was almost convinced…)
• Kaden: “Dad can I have a bath when we get home?” Dad: “No, Kaden, it’s bedtime.” Kaden (in a serious voice): “JUST because I WANT something, doesn’t mean you always have to say NO!” (He got a short bath…it WAS a pretty good argument.)
